In a 12-0 vote on Friday, the committee said the model rule threshold level of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug should be lowered from 5.0 micrograms to 2.0 micrograms. The recommendation is in line with the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, which believes the lower threshold level will allow for improved pre-race veterinary testing.

“At no point during the Model Rules Committee’s deliberate review process did opponents of this policy change present an argument as to why the administration of phenylbutazone close enough to race time to trigger a five-microgram threshold was absolutely necessary to the health of the horse,” Martin said. “The unanswered question by those in opposition to the proposed policy change is why a horse in pain requiring an administration of phenylbutazone at their suggested level should be racing.”

The Racing Medication and Testing Consortium agreed with the regulatory veterinarians’ concerns and recommended the lower threshold. While recognizing the study was not scientific, RMTC Executive Director Scot Waterman, D.V.M., said two states that in recent years went from 2.0 to 5.0 saw increased catastrophic breakdowns. When one of those states returned to the 2.0 level, breakdown numbers declined.